Master and Disciple (First Update)

"Haha, Minato, your junior brother really is a good person."

Kushina, who was stuffing herself at the barbecue restaurant without the slightest trace of ladylike decorum, praised Minato Namikaze beside her, whose face was full of wry smiles.

It was only a barbecue meal, yet her favorability had increased again. Xu Yue found that rather speechless, then ignored her and said to Minato, "Senior Brother Minato, although we’ve only just returned, given the current situation, I’m afraid we won’t be able to relax for long."

As he spoke, Xu Yue took a bite of barbecue. The juices burst across his taste buds. Mm, it really did taste good.

"That’s right. Although the borders with the Land of Wind and the Land of Earth have temporarily quieted down, given the Land of Fire’s location, if we can’t quickly repel the Land of Lightning, the other two fronts may become unstable again."

Minato Namikaze possessed the perspective of a Kage-level fighter and saw the current situation very clearly.

Although they had swiftly dealt with the troubles caused by Sunagakure and Iwagakure one after another, the conflict with Hidden Cloud had already reached a fever pitch.

Hidden Cloud’s overall strength was second only to Konoha’s, and they were all warlike people. Even while facing only one enemy for the time being, the pressure was still immense.

Their conversation clearly provoked Kushina again. Not even barbecue could keep her mouth shut now. "Huh? You’re going on missions again? You’ve only been back for a few days. Are you so desperate to become Naruto?"

After grumbling for a while, she seemed to think of something and turned to Xu Yue. "By the way, little junior brother, if the Fourth Hokage made you choose between Minato and your teacher, who would you choose?"

Xu Yue did not hide much in the face of that question. "My teacher has no ambitions of becoming Naruto, so I would choose Senior Brother Minato."

"Hehe, at least you know how to talk. If it weren’t for… forget it."

In truth, Kushina had initially wanted to compete with Minato for the position of Naruto as well. Of course, her purpose had been more about proving a point.

But after spending this period in the village, she had come to understand that it was impossible for her to compete with Minato now.

Even so, she still hoped Minato would be the one to win.

Minato Namikaze had found Kushina’s question somewhat troublesome and awkward. He had even worried it might affect his relationship with this junior brother, but Xu Yue’s answer genuinely surprised him.

Since getting to know Xu Yue, he had found that Xu Yue had a personality much like his own. He also did not seem like someone who would offer a perfunctory lie over something like this.

"Haha, don’t be surprised. I understand my teacher’s personality very well," Xu Yue said with a smile.

"Oh? Lord Yue truly understands my personality very well."

At that moment, a soft, hoarse voice full of magnetic charm came from behind them. Even Minato Namikaze and the carefree Kushina were left with embarrassed expressions—they had been caught red-handed.

They hurriedly stood and greeted Orochimaru.

At present, Orochimaru possessed enough fame in Konoha to contend with Minato Namikaze for the position of Naruto. His seniority was also there, and given his relationship with Jiraiya, the two juniors had to show him sufficient respect.

Orochimaru’s appearance truly startled Xu Yue. With concealment abilities of this caliber, even Xu Yue had failed to notice him standing behind them in the slightest.

Force Sense really isn’t pulling its weight, Teacher.

Yet compared to the other two’s embarrassment, Xu Yue only felt slightly uncomfortable at Orochimaru appearing behind him. He had no intention of taking back what he had said.

Turning with a smile, he said, "Teacher, have you returned from the front lines? With only Senior Jiraiya there, it must be somewhat difficult for him."

Orochimaru clearly did not pursue the meaning behind Xu Yue’s words. Not only did he have no ambition to become Naruto himself, even the current Third Hokage did not think highly of Orochimaru!

This had been mentioned many times in the original work.

"Your mission slowed the Land of Lightning’s offensive somewhat. Now that there’s a brief period of rest, it’s the perfect time to rotate shifts with the younger generation."

Orochimaru still spoke in that hoarse voice, glancing at Minato as he did so.

Clearly, this was Konoha’s higher-ups’ intention—to continue letting Minato Namikaze build his reputation!

From this alone, one could see that the position of Fourth Hokage was already more or less decided.

Behind Konoha’s apparent fairness, there had never been any shortage of behind-the-scenes manipulation. That had been the case with White Fang, and even earlier with Madara Uchiha.

But since Orochimaru had returned, Minato Namikaze would soon be heading to the front lines.

Even during a rest period, they would not leave Jiraiya’s side empty for too long.

"Senior Brother Minato, it seems I’ll have to excuse myself today. Teacher has just returned, and I have some things I’d like to ask him about."

Xu Yue then bid farewell to Minato Namikaze and Kushina. Naturally, the two expressed their understanding…

"Lord Yue’s earlier declaration truly wounded me."

As they walked through a dark corridor, Orochimaru ahead of him spoke in that same hoarse voice full of magnetic charm.

"Teacher’s goal is to pursue eternal, unchanging truth. Would you really care about a position like Naruto, one that requires so much energy to maintain?"

Xu Yue followed behind him, still wearing much the same smile.

"Ha, Lord Yue seems to have always been wary of me. May I know why?"

"Teacher, I am your most reliable assistant. It seems your new technique is nearly complete."

Xu Yue did not answer the question. When dealing with someone as intelligent as Orochimaru, there was no need for excessive beating around the bush. A hint was enough.

Before mastering the Flying Thunder God, Xu Yue would naturally have needed another method to stall for time and reduce his presence. But now that he possessed this exceptional life-saving technique, he still could not confront Orochimaru head-on, yet as long as he remained vigilant, he could protect himself against him.

It was precisely because of Orochimaru’s personality that, after learning Xu Yue had mastered the Flying Thunder God, Xu Yue had actually become much safer. Orochimaru would not waste more time and effort on something that brought no benefit.

"Lord Yue truly is a clever child. Since we’re here, come take a look at the new experimental subject I’ve cultivated. After all these years, the miracle in your body has never appeared again. That truly is a pity…"

As long as he understood Orochimaru’s personality well enough, along with his goals and way of thinking, Xu Yue was confident he could maintain the balance between them, even though he possessed the kind of vessel constitution Orochimaru so coveted.

No matter what, both understood that since Orochimaru could not currently set his sights on Xu Yue as a vessel, cooperation for mutual benefit was clearly better than confrontation.

Moreover, Orochimaru was still relatively young at this point and not particularly anxious. He had enough time and confidence to cultivate another suitable vessel.

Xu Yue was also an impeccable assistant.

Just like in the original work, when Orochimaru’s illness flared up before Sasuke arrived, Kabuto voluntarily offered his body as a vessel, yet Orochimaru was not tempted in the slightest. He simply selected one person from among the captured experimental subjects through survival of the fittest.

Besides, before suffering at Itachi’s hands, Orochimaru was not nearly so obsessed with the Sharingan…

Thank you all for your support—an extra chapter for reaching 2,200 average subscriptions! There are still two guaranteed updates to come afterward~

As for the story-world’s integrity, I had some idea of what I was doing. Since I put it out there, there will definitely be elements that can be integrated, so I’m mainly taking references from the feedback. As long as there isn’t too much opposition, the next world will probably be decided. So far, things look pretty good~